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School's out! Pool time and salad season are here

 

Last updated 6/25/2018 at 11:23am



Salad season, school is out and pool time; recipes in this column are mostly from Odessa Friends of the Pool Cookbooks. Barb Schlimmer’s Taco Salad is always a hit at any event she brings it to. The recipe is found in the cookbook titled “Returning to the Kitchen with Friends of the Pool”. Make the bulk of the salad the night before and have the lettuce and chips prepped for easy finishing the next day.

Taco Salad

1 pound hamburger

1 head lettuce

2 tomatoes

4 green onions

1 avocado

1 or 2 cans sliced black olives, drained

1 can (15 ounces) chili beans, un-drained

2 to 4 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, Mexican mix, or your choice)

1 large (16 ounce) bottle Thousand Island dressing

Tabasco sauce

1 large bag nacho cheese chips

Brown hamburger and season with salt, pepper and garlic. Drain and cool.

Chop tomatoes, green onions, avocado and put in a large bowl. Add browned hamburger, olives, chili beans, cheese and Thousand Island dressing. Sprinkle Tabasco sauce over the mix to taste and stir in. Refrigerate and let flavors blend together over night. Do not add the lettuce until shortly before serving, so it will stay crisp.

To speed preparation the next day, Barb places the chopped lettuce in a zip closure bag with a paper towel and refrigerates over night.

Crush nacho chips in the bag and add to the salad just before serving. Stir in half and sprinkle the remainder on top. Yield: a lot (15 or more servings)

Barb notes: chop the green onions very fine.

Purple Lady Salad is in the Friends of the Pool Featuring Fiesta Fare Recipes cookbook, submitted by Danielle Scrupps. This colorful gelatin fruit salad is creamy and cool on hot summer days. Serve in a clear glass bowl for a colorful feature on the table.

Purple Lady Salad

1 large (6 ounces) or 2 small (3 ounces each), red raspberry gelatin

1 cup boiling water

1 large can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, un-drained

1 can (about 20 ounces) blueberry pie filling

1 container (8 ounces) whipped topping, thawed

In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add pineapple and pie filling. Stirring until well blended.

Chill until thickened, about 2 hours. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into a pretty serving dish and refrigerate until set. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

In the same cookbook, Lise Ott shared her recipe for Rhubarb Crisp. The unique thing about this crisp is the oatmeal that gives texture to any crisp is sprinkled over the top, instead of mixed into the batter.

Rhubarb Crisp

6 cups rhubarb, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup melted butter

1 1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place rhubarb in a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Mix together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour salt, egg and melted butter. Spread over rhubarb, then sprinkle with the oatmeal.

Bake crisp for 40 minutes. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Nancy Glines is expert at knowing what kids like to eat, and when they help make it, like it even better. Nancy’s recipe for Wacky Cake is in the same cookbook and is a wonderful recipe to start out young cooks. Because it is mixed right in the baking pan, it doesn’t make to much mess in the kitchen.

Wacky Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup powdered cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt together in an un-greased 8 or 9 inch square baking pan.

Make three holes in the dry mixture. In one hole place the vinegar, and the second hole place the vanilla and in the third hole, pour the vegetable oil. Pour the cold water over all and mix thoroughly.

Bake 30 minutes. Cool and frost as desired. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Last but not least, a requested recipe, Danielle Hardung’s Mac-n-Cheese. This is a stove top version that puts boxed macaroni and cheese to shame. Leave out the mustard and Tabasco if that is too spicy and substitute your favorite cheese to suit tastes. It takes no longer than the box products to make.

Mac-n-Cheese

2 cups dry macaroni

Salt

2 large eggs

1 can (11 ounces) evaporated milk

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

4 tbsp butter

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese

Cook macaroni in salted water according to package directions.

Meanwhile mix eggs, half the milk, mustard, Tabasco, 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper. Drain pasta and return to pot. Over low heat, stir in butter until melted. Stir in egg mixture and half of the cheese. Continue to cook over low, gradually stirring in milk and the rest of the cheese until hot and creamy, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately. Yield: about 4 servings.

Share your favorite summer time recipes by sending them to Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa WA 99159, email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Cut bouquets from your snap dragons now and produce bushy colorful plants to bloom throughout the summer.

 

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